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  • Phuket Police set to launch nationwide manhunt for Patong headhunter killers | Thaiger

    Phuket Police set to launch nationwide manhunt for Patong headhunter killers

    PHUKET: Patong Police are preparing to send an alert to every police station in the country in the hopes of apprehending three prime suspects for the murder of Myanmar worker Wai Phyo Kyaw, 22, whose decapitated body was found dumped on Patong Hill on March 9 (story here). “We have learned the names of three of the five men we…

  • Phuket Gazette World News: Family anger erupts as Malaysia jet search appears deadlocked

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Family anger erupts as Malaysia jet search appears deadlocked Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Chinese relatives’ anger over sparse information on the fate of their loved ones on board a missing Malaysian airliner sparked chaotic scenes on Wednesday at the headquarters of an increasingly deadlocked search…

  • Phuket Gazette World News: Russian forces seize two Ukrainian bases in Crimea

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – World news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Russian forces seize two Ukrainian bases in Crimea Reuters / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The United States warned Moscow it was on a “dark path” to isolation on Wednesday as Russian troops seized two Ukrainian naval bases, including a headquarters in the Crimean port of Sevastopol where…

  • Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Bangkok bunkers stay; Yingluck faces NACC probe; Ya bah-heroin drug raises fears; Toxic fire nearly out

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Military to maintain bunkers despite lifting of emergency The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The military will maintain its force and 176 street bunkers across Bangkok, even though the government has lifted the emergency decree.A military source said the reason the government scrapped the state of…

  • Phuket Police seek arrest warrants for suspects in alleged kidnapping of Russians

    PHUKET: Phuket Police are seeking arrest warrants for the two prime suspects involved in the alleged kidnapping of a Russian couple. The woman, Iana Strizheus, 22, was badly injured and in shock when she was found by a maid at the Blue Garden Resort and Spa at about 6pm on Sunday. She and her boyfriend, Alexey Slabinskiy, 39, were reported…

  • Phuket aims for 729-million-baht biofuel production facility

    PHUKET: The island may be in for a cleaner and greener future as Phuket officials plan to request 729 million baht to build a biofuel production facility. “Organic waste from the entire province will be sent to the plant. It will be processed and turned into biofuel and the leftover matter subsequently turned into compost,” said Provincial Administration Organization (PPAO)…

  • Phuket Gazette World News: Area of Malaysia plane search now size of Australia

    PHUKET: An international land and sea search for a missing Malaysian jetliner is covering an area the size of Australia, authorities said on Tuesday, but police and intelligence agencies have yet to establish a clear motive to explain its disappearance. Investigators are convinced that someone with deep knowledge of the Boeing 777-200ER and commercial navigation diverted Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370,…

  • Phuket Gazette Thailand News: State of Emergency lifted; Peace talks rejected; Thai radar may have spotted MH370; Toxic smog alert

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community State of emergency scrapped The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The Cabinet yesterday lifted the emergency decree in Bangkok and nearby areas and replaced it with the Internal Security Act, effective today. Caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said later that the move was aimed at boosting…

  • Tourism Minister targets Phuket’s stolen passport trade

    PHUKET: Recent news of the stolen passports trade in Phuket and the recently found Russian kidnap victim prompted a visit from Thailand’s Tourism and Sports Minister to the island yesterday to meet with officials and get to the bottom of the issues. “I came to Phuket to follow up on the cases concerning the stolen passports used to board missing…

  • Phuket police connect two local expats to Russian missing persons case

    PHUKET: Police have identified the two Caucasian men who were seen with “missing” Russian woman Iana Strizheus, found injured and in shock in a hotel room on Sunday. “We are searching for the two men, who work in Phuket. At this time, we can’t reveal their names without jeopardizing the case,” Phuket’s top cop Ong-art Phiwruangnont said at a press…

  • Phuket Sports: Lee hits winning trail

    PHUKET: Canada’s Richard T Lee learned a thing or two about the rewards of hard work and even a stroke of lady luck when he won his maiden title at the casino-backed Solaire Open last weekend. On Sunday, all these winning combinations propelled him towards the finish line and earned the 23-year-old his career breakthrough on the Asian Tour at…

  • Phuket Business: Seminar on economic and investment trends in Phuket this Thursday

    PHUKET: Siam Commercial Bank will be hosting a seminar in Phuket titled “Economic and Investment Trends in Phuket’s Thriving Tourism Industry” this Thursday, March 20 at 1:30pm at the Royal Phuket City Hotel. With industry and investment insight from leading speakers in their fields, the free seminar will be in two languages – Thai and English – and is targeting…

  • Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Time bombs near Criminal Court; World Cup broadcast free; Thai AirAsia restarts tourism

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Two time bombs found near Criminal Court The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Two home-made bombs were discovered on Ratchadaphisek Road in two separate locations yesterday morning. The first one was found at around 7am by a Bangkok Metropolitan Administration street cleaner in a bus stop…

  • Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Thousands evacuated as toxic dump fire smog blankets Bangkok

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Dump fire creates deadly smog; locals ordered out The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: Residents in Tambon Praeksa in Samut Prakan were forced to rush to grab their belongings and flee after a massive fire broke out at a garbage dump near their homes. Inspectors from…

  • Phuket Business: Phuket’s plans to trap MICE travellers

    PHUKET: A recent conference organized by the American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM) examined the role of Meeting, Incentives, Conferences and Events (MICE) travellers in Phuket’s diversifying tourism industry. The event, which was co-hosted by AMCHAM, the British Chamber of Commerce Thailand (BCCT) and the Australian-Thai Chamber of Commerce (AustCham), featured three experts on Thailand’s rapidly growing MICE tourism industry. The…

  • Phuket Drive Thru: Woman blames car for surging into 7-Eleven

    PHUKET: A woman parking her car outside a 7-Eleven in Phuket Town this afternoon ended up inside the store when the vehicle suddenly surged forward, injuring a 12-year-old girl in the process. Orathai Kaikong, 31, had pulled into a gas station on Phun Pol Road in Phuket Town with her boyfriend to buy snacks. “I was braking while pulling into…

  • Phuket’s B120mn road to Freedom Beach inches forward

    PHUKET: The controversial new road planned to provide access to Freedom Beach, south of Patong, took a step closer to becoming reality as the project passed its third and final public hearing on Friday. About 80 of the 100 participants who joined the hearing, held at the Patong Merlin Hotel, voted to approve the project, rebounding from a 64 per…

  • Phuket national park encroachment investigation in full swing again

    PHUKET: The plot thickened in the ongoing investigation into encroachment onto Sirinath Marine National Park yesterday as five former park chiefs were accused of signing documents allowing encroachment. “After reviewing several land titles from owners in the area, we discovered that five chiefs signed their names, making it legal for landowners to build on land that is part of Sirinath…

  • Blackout strikes third of island as Phuket sees year’s first rain

    PHUKET: A blown transformer was responsible for a two-hour blackout in parts of Phuket on Saturday afternoon, said an official at the Phuket Provincial Electrical Authority (PPEA). Electricity shut off in Chalong, Rawai, Kathu, Patong, Kathu and some areas of Phuket Town at about 3pm. “After we got calls from the public, we sent a repair crew out. Within two…

  • Police post bodyguard for Russian ‘kidnap’ victim

    PHUKET: Police have posted an around-the-clock guard outside the hospital room of the Russian woman who was found injured yesterday after having disappeared for nine days. Friends say the woman, Iana Strizheus, 22, may have been the victim of a kidnapping. Phuket Provincial Police Commander Ong-art Phiwruangnont visited Ms Strizheus at Bangkok Hospital Phuket last night. “We don’t know how…

  • Phuket Gazette World News: ‘Good night’ – Haunting final contact from missing Malaysian jet

    PHUKET: The last words from the cockpit of missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 – “all right, good night” – were uttered after someone on board had already begun disabling one of the plane’s automatic tracking systems, a senior Malaysian official said. Both the timing and informal nature of the phrase, spoken to air traffic controllers as the plane with 239…

  • Phuket Gazette Thailand News: Court may rule election unlawful; Military reshuffle today; Oil spill in Chon Buri; Hail in Loei

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community Ruling on poll could ease crisis The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: A political breakthrough could happen this week with the Constitutional Court may rule on whether the February 2 poll was unlawful, and the possibility of a verdict annulling the election. A petition requesting the…

  • Phuket Gazette World News: Crimeans vote over 90 percent to quit Ukraine for Russia

    PHUKET: Russian state media said Crimeans voted overwhelmingly to break with Ukraine and join Russia on Sunday, as Kiev accused Moscow of pouring forces into the peninsula and warned separatist leaders “the ground will burn under their feet”. With over half the votes counted, 95.5 percent had chosen the option of annexation by Moscow, the head of the referendum commission,…

  • Mysterious deaths of Quebec sisters may be due to lethal dose of pesticide

    PHUKET: Two Canadian sisters who died mysteriously on the popular resort island of Phi Phi in 2012 may have ingested toxic amounts of a lethal pesticide called aluminum phosphide, reports Canadian news network CBC. The highly toxic pesticide is used to control bedbugs in some holiday hotels in Asia and may have contributed to the deaths of Audrey and Noemi…

  • Phuket Gazette World News: West prepares sanctions as Russia presses on with Crimea takeover

    PHUKET: The European Union is expected to impose travel bans and asset freezes on Monday on dozens of Russians involved in Moscow’s gradual takeover of Crimea and will choose from a list of up to 130 names over the weekend, European diplomats said. Moscow shipped more troops and armour into Crimea on Friday and repeated its threat to invade other…

  • Dazed and confused: Danish expat crashes into Thalang store

    PHUKET: Police are still looking for an explanation as to what caused a car driven by a Danish expat to fly off the road and plunge into an appliance store in Thalang on Thursday evening.Police arrived at the scene, about 250 meters from Baan Nai Klam Mosque on the southbound side of Thepkrasattri Road, at about 6:30pm.The 50-year-old driver, Per…

  • Australian long-term expat dies after fall from motorbike in Phuket

    PHUKET: An Australian expat died early yesterday morning in Phuket after allegedly driving his motorbike one-handed.“The accident happened at about 1:50am. Eyewitness accounts described Wayne Anthony Stone driving his motorbike at high speeds with only one hand holding the handlebars,” Navin Petchan of the Kamala Police told the Phuket Gazette.“Mr Stone fell off his bike at a main junction in…

  • Phuket tour bus drivers caught in Patong Hill checkpoint drug blitz

    Note: Since this story was posted, a representative from the tour company Pegas Touristik affirmed that no drivers associated with the company tested positive for drugs in the blitz. PHUKET: The new police and transport office safety checkpoint for buses about to cross over Patong Hill netted 16 drivers who tested positive for drugs in its first day of operation…

  • Phuket Gazette Thailand News: UN help sought to protect Uighur refugees; CMPO to propose lifting decree; Teacher slaying unsettles South

    PHUKET MEDIA WATCH – Thailand news compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community UN help sought to protect Uighurs found in Songkhla The Nation / Phuket Gazette PHUKET: The United Nations and rights organisations are set to take care of a group of 220 people smuggled to Songkhla on Wednesday, who have been found to be Uighurs who fled…

  • Murder brings curfew for Myanmar workers in Patong

    PHUKET: Patong police announced today that Myanmar workers living in Patong will be arrested if they are found outside of their camps after 10pm. The curfew is in response to the murder of a Thai man by a group of Myanmar nationals early Tuesday morning in Patong. “Construction operators typically keep the passports of their workers. If we stop workers…